A Boston College sports blog capturing the highs and lows of being a BC fan living 1,000 miles from Chestnut Hill.

Monday, December 07, 2009

No band in San Fran and other links

No link on this first tidbit, but the band will not be making the trip to California. Supposedly they are just another victim of the terrible economy. Really though it is no surprise. We rarely bring the band to these sorts of things. It is a shame. We should at least bring the pep band. Maybe next year the band can start raising funds before the season and go regardless of the funding from the Athletic Department.

For those of us who remark about bowl selections and so forth - "Bobby Bowden’s final game will take place in a packed house. The Gator Bowl said that it sold every ticket for the New Year’s Day game in less than two hours."

Don't be so high on FSU selling out the Gator Bowl. That does not prove FSU was a good choice for college football or the ACC. Instead, it proves why the bowl system is corrupt.

If bowls need to be played in warm weather (e.g. generally no bowls even in domed stadiums in the north such as Carrier Dome, Detroit excepted)

and

If bowls are really about drawing more or less local fans (w/in 250 miles) to attend (the RV scene)..

and

competitive results, such as ACC standings, have almost nothing to do with bowl selection (e.g, picking a horrid FSU over Clemson, BC, UNC)

then, the ACC bowl scene is a rigged game that does not give BC a fair shake. BC will never get a fair shake. There is no way BC can ever bring as many fans as FSU does for a Orlando game, or Clemson for an Atlanta game. Under that standard BC cannot compete. Its not for lack of trying either. Geography and North East culture & norms stand in the way. And its not just BC. Syracuse could never deleiver; UConn can't deliver; Rutgers can't deliver under that standard.

Maybe we should just return to the BE -- revamped -- and get some northern bowls going. Boise started their own northern bowl and look what it did for them!

Or the one in Yankee stadium; get one in Syracuse; get one Foxboro. The NFL draws fans to the cold. Why can't college's do that too?

Gorgias, please don't joke about going back to the big east. I love the ACC and am happy BC is a part of it. As far as cold-weather bowls go, bowls are a vacation for fans. It's not like the NFL where the team and it's fans are local. It's a treat to go to a bowl game. Even though I love Boston, I'm not going to go Boston just to sit outside in the cold for my big Christmas treat. And our fans already don't go to warm weather home games. What makes you think they'll shell out even more for a cold-weather game against a mediocre opponent?

We have and always will get screwed by the bowls and the related ACC rules that allow for FSU-style leap frogging (which is not the standard in the PAC-10 and other leagues).

What is so good about being in the ACC for football? maybe some money. Beyond that? School prestige...maybe, but a weak point. What is it? just some small (compared to the university budget) amount of $$.

Consider UConn and Rutgers, which were both crappy when BC left the BE.

UConn is now a) getting a better bowl than BC -- a Jan 2 bowl against the other USC -- and b) even at 7-5 is a better team than BC (compare they beat ND, we lost, and they lost to UNC by only 2, we got rocked) and C) has the same (lack) of recruiting abilty as BC (BC in 2009 was #70, UConn, #75) (i.e. ACC membership did not give BC any enhanced recruiting powers).

Rutgers has also grown to become comparable to BC and sometimes is higher ranked than BC.

So, tell me what does the ACC do for BC football? Wouldn't you rather play Pitt, Syracuse and Rutgers, than Maryland, UVA and Clemson -- I would.

So the Papajohns.com bowl is now a better bowl game than the Emerald Bowl? That's news to me. Just because a bowl is after New Years doesn't mean it's more desirable. If we followed that logic, the Papajohns.com would be better than the Chick-Fil-A and the Sun Bowl. The International Bowl (another Big East bowl) would be another example of that. The game was started in 2006, meaning it has no history whatsoever. 6-6 NC State played in the bowl last year, so clearly it's not that good of a bowl. The only good non-BCS tie-ins that the Big East has are the Gator Bowl (which can take a Big 12 team or ND over a Big East team) and the Sun Bowl (which the ACC is getting next year). If you're going to cite reason why we should return to the Big East, their football bowl situation is probably the last one you should cite.

Also, don't compare us to UConn and Rutgers. We haven't finished with worse than 5 wins in the ACC since joining the league. I don't think UConn and Rutgers can say the same thing since we left. And also consider that we play in a much tougher conference than those two. Not to mention we were rebuilding this year and still managed the same amount of wins as Rutgers and more wins than UConn.

Why does anyone really care what bowl we go to? Outside of the BCS bowls what difference does it make? I live in Atlanta and i would love to see them come to the Chik-fil-a bowl but that just ain't happening. And this year we would be playing Tenn so who cares? Is it the prestige of saying we won the Gator Bowl in 2009? or the Champs Bowl? unless your team plays in it who even remembers what teams played in what bowls two months later? The object for teams every year is to win the conference title. if you do that, then you get to play in the big boy bowls, after that, who really gives a crap? The bowls are in it for money and the bottom line is that we're just not going to bring as much money as most other schools. and i'm fine with that.

um, Adam, so are you telling me that your would rather play in the Emerald Bowl on 12/26 than Papajohn on 1/2. You'd rather getted rocked by USC(cali) than roll (well try, at least) on USC(Carolina)

I guess you'll next tell me that this year's BC team can trash UConn and Rutgers. Is it because we are "rebuilding" that maybe, um, it would be clsoe. Face it, they have built very good programs that are equal or better than BC. You no like that?

Gorgias is pretty clearly a Big East troll trying to pass himself off as a BC fan, as evidenced by his inability to spell Mary Ann's properly. My advice: ignore him, and like most pests, he'll go away.

What has the Big East to offer us, Gorgias? We have no football rivals in the Big East, would face inferior competition (Cincinnati excepted), have to pay more OOC opponents, and we made FAR less money as a member of the conference.

I understand your suspicions and that your are not comfortable with the topic and thus seek to cast me out as a "non eagle"

Even though that is a really lame tactic (pathetic really), you have guessed wrong. No troll here. (but you are right about one thing, I am not a great speller)

A proud BC grad -- but a BC grad when the BE was fun.

What proof of my BC-ness woud you like? Its been a while, but mentally I can take you on a stroll from Gonzaga down the stairs to McElroy, through the ashphalt path on the Dust Bowl, past Lyons and Gasson past the old library, Bapst, and the Jessy house (St Mary's) thru the guard booth to Comm ave.

Enuff?

Now turn back to my Question: what's so great about being in the ACC? No has said diddly yet.

BC is giving students free tickets to the Emerald Bowl. Plus 10% off airfare if you fly JetBlue (thanks new corporate sponsor!) Seems like a pretty good deal. I'm probably going to go. I hope my BC brethren can forego their boxing day plans and make a statement out in SF.

So you don't think the sudden ascent of UConn and Rutgers has anything to do with BC, VT, and Miami no longer being in the Big East? The ACC is a MUCH better league than the Big East because the BE has not enough teams in football and too many teams in basketball. No other BCS conference has non-football members in their conference. The ACC has better bowl tie-ins, better travel destinations, more prestigious athletic programs, not to mention all of our sports (Basketball, Football, Soccer, and Baseball) have all shown improvement since switching conferences. So yeah, I'll take the move to the ACC over staying in the Big East.

And Dan, don't forget that even if FSU wouldn't be considered better than UConn and Rutgers at the current moment, their history and tradition in college football would be enough to garner more fan interest in a game against the Noles than in a game against UConn (unless people would get fired up for that cause they are a rival) or Rutgers. They're kind of like Notre Dame in that regard. WVU and Pitt are the only teams that have maintained consistent success since the split, though WVU has fallen off a bit since Rodriguez left. Neither of those teams have the selling power of FSU, Miami, or even VT in terms of brand name. Louisville looked to be a rising power too, but fell apart when Petrino left, so it'll be interesting to see if Cincy will be able to keep Kelly or get a coach who can pick up where he left off. If not, they might find themselves in the same predicament as Louisville.

"What proof of my BC-ness woud you like? Its been a while, but mentally I can take you on a stroll from Gonzaga down the stairs to McElroy, through the ashphalt path on the Dust Bowl, past Lyons and Gasson past the old library, Bapst, and the Jessy house (St Mary's) thru the guard booth to Comm ave."

hey - I can read a map also!! If u really think we are better in the BE than the ACC you are officially crazier than Obsevr College. Yes, it's worse to play (and beat) Clemson, Florida State, etc than it is to play Rutgers and UConn. HAHAHA.

Don't forget that Gameday has come to campus twice since BC joined the ACC, never when we were in the Big East.

I think we're getting better players,too. Sure the BC mold has not really changed since joining, and a lot of our old pipelines are still there, but it just seems like we're getting better players at positions that we are not known for (like DB, LB and WR). In the 90's we got great Lineman, great TE's and good RB's and the other positions we would get lucky every once in a while.

Definitely better TV coverage.

The attendance situation has nothing to do with the league and everything to do with not standing up to Newton.

BC v Clemson has the makings of a good rivalry, good hard fought games, same for FSU and Wake.

UConn's success has nothing to do with the BE and everything to do with what a great coach Randy Edsall is.

Staying the BE continued Syracuse's slide to irrelevancy.

WVU and Pitt have benefitted. Cincy, while very good this year is probably the same flash in the pan as Louisville.

South Florida had nowhere to go but up, but they're better off than Central Florida.

Maybe Gorgias is the UConn guy who keeps thinking we should stoop to schedule them again. Or maybe he is a BC guy. Who knows? Really, who cares? I'm all for debate, but name calling b/c someone doesn't agree? Gorgias, you're probably the 1 in 10 guy who would enjoy the BE over the ACC. Congrats. Huffing and puffing won't do you any good. The ACC is a better football conference, top to bottom, its academic institutions are a better fit, bball is a wash (except, last year, when the BE was better), baseball is incomparably better, as is soccer...hmm...and you mention Rutgers and UConn? Seriously? That's the best you can do?

You are right about the corrupt bowl system. Well, it's unfair, to be more to the point. Write your congressman. Wait for a playoff. If you were on a bowl committee or with one of the sponsors, you'd do the exact same thing--try to make money.

The other schools don't accept BC in the ACC? That's news to me. They sorta have to, since we've beaten them in both football and bball.

To compare the strength of UConn's program, or Rutgers for that matter, to BC is just absurd. You lose credibility. Playing South Carolina is better than playing USC? Since?

Next you're going to tell us that the Big Ten is better in bball than the ACC b/c they just won the challenge. After all, they're now 1-10. Adam's 6:18 post sorta sums it up. Citing dates of bowls as proof of anything is inane. Check the schedule.

The best non-BCS game is the Chik-Fil-A Bowl. I guess the Liberty, GMAC, International, and PapaJohns.com Bowl are all better, by your reasoning.

I would not even be on here if BC were not in the ACC. When BC was in the Big East, I was lucky to see 1-2 games on TV each year. It was very hard to follow the Eagles and develop an interest in BC football. I saw every single BC game on TV or in person this year. That alone is a solid reason that BC being in the ACC is better than the Big East. I could go on and on but there is no doubt in my mind that moving to the ACC was tremendous for BC athletics. And now back to the Blizzard of 2009.

"Yes, it's worse to play Clemson, Florida State, etc than it is to play Rutgers and UConn."

U said it bub, not me!

BE --revamped-- would be better than being a Yankee in a southern league that's for sure. How the BE could be revamped is a different, difficult issue.

And yes, it was a good point that someone made that UConn and Rutgers got "better" by avoiding loses to VT, UM and BC each year. But still tehy did improve.

But poor, poor Syracuse...luv to see that fine and storied program -- Jim Brown, Larry Csonka -- make a comeback. If BE cannot be revamped (a stretch), nice to see Syr join ACC, if that is even possible

As for BC-ness, can u show me any map that shows a stairs going down from Gonzaga and ashphalt in the dust bowl? I didn't think so

"As for BC-ness, can u show me any map that shows a stairs going down from Gonzaga and ashphalt in the dust bowl? I didn't think so"

ummm I think google earth might show that.

There is no way we get Herzlih and others if were in the BE.

I don't know about u, but I live in NYC, and our alumni turnout for gamewatches since we got to the ACC is not even close to comparison. If u wish we were in the BE write Gene and ask him to rejoin.

The ONLY and I mean ONLY reason Rutgers and UConn even register a blip on the radar I'd because they dint have to play BC, Miami and VT every year. If they did they would still be in perenial suckitude!